Family, friends still reeling from couple's death in house fire

The McClains remembered as being compassionate, kind

PENDLETON - Eugene and Iris McClain have come to the Pickin' Parlor in Williamston nearly every Tuesday and Thursday for the past of couple months. Mr. McClain would sit and play his guitar, his wife by his side. Sometimes she'd fall asleep, resting her head on his shoulder.

Two days after a Saturday night house fire claimed their lives, reality is just setting in for family and friends. Mr. and Ms. McClain were both 81.

"I'm devastated by what happened," said Jack Ellenburg, who runs the Pickin' Parlor. "I loved him and loved his wife; she was just so sweet. They were out here Thursday, and I sat down beside her and leaned over and told her I loved her."

For 33 years the elder Mr. McClain worked in the agronomy and soils department at Clemson University. For the past two years he's been going to the Pickin' Parlor, bringing his guitar and learning how to better play his mandolin and banjo.

Everyone who knew Mr. and Mrs. McClain describe them as kind, compassionate people with a strong relationship. Mrs. McClain had Alzheimer's, and folks were amazed by her husband's devotion to the woman he met in Puerto Rico during World War II.

"He was very attentive to her, he really took care of her," said the Rev. Morton White, pastor of Pendleton Presbyterian Church, where Mrs. McClain was a member. "It was her habit to come to church, and when she became unable, he began to bring her."

On Saturday, son Rey McClain had been perfecting his back yard in preparation to have the family Easter gathering at his home in West Pelzer.

About 6:13 p.m. he received a phone call from one of his parent's neighbors, telling him a house in the neighborhood was on fire, but they didn't think it was his parents'. He finished up what he was working on, then came another call.

It was his parent's home.

"I flew over there," he said. "It was so weird, I can visualize this, it was so surreal. I honestly thought mom and dad would be in the front yard."

Since then the McClain family and friends have simply been surviving.

Instead of spending Easter Sunday eating and cracking jokes, the family shifted through the rubble of the home, rescuing family pictures, baby books and undamaged quilts and cross-stitching Ms. McClain had made.

Ms. McClain was known for her abilities to make quilts and cross-stitch designs.

Investigators say the fire began in the attic, possibly started by an electrical short. Smoke detectors were in the home, but the McClain's never made it out. Both died from smoke inhalation.

Graveside services will be at 2 p.m. Thursday at Pendleton Presbyterian Church Cemetery. A memorial service will follow in the church. Family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Duckett-Robinson Funeral Home in Central.

The family asks that instead of flowers, donations be made to the Alzheimer's Association in Anderson.